Sunday, January 3, 2010

Out of Loop but not out of Vigilance

I haven't been reading the news lately. Neither have I read any prominent blogs. I just can't stand the political innuendos. I'm off politics and out of loop. Politics gets me too riled up and eventhough other writers have told me I write best when I'm provoked, I don't think I can stomach my sarcastic self much longer. Do I have to be sarcastic to write? Maybe.

Isn't writing a route to self-discovery? Well, I knew I've always been sarcastic and cynical and though it fuels my writing in general and works best for politics, it does not always bring out the best in me. But I won't give up sarcasm and even if I did want to, it wouldn't happen since I'm still watching House M.D. and there hasn't been THAT much character depelopment even after he was released from psych ward. *Sigh*... sarcasm lives on!

I did read however on the court ruling, allowing the use of the name Allah by other religions, in this case it was a Church. (Again, if that news is STALE, then it's my fault). How do I feel about this?

Neither a politician nor a scholar, I believe these types of disputes are what hold back the country in developing into a progressive and open minded nation. Even more so, the segregation of the races and religions that spark this type of controversy, enhance the segregation, causing even more disharmony and encouraging prejudice between the racial lines. Not to mention that the different communities of different faiths are also held back in their own respective development. Honestly, that's just plain pathetic.

Instead of carrying out the laudable tenets that each faith champions, which more or less cover tolerance and kindness, they are bickering about the use of the name Allah and who it rightfully belongs to. This is just one of the sad examples of how they bicker about the differences between faiths, rather than celebrate the similarities between the belief systems.

In my humble opinion, Allah is the Arabic word for God. Granted, it is not the direct translation, because "Allah" can't be made plural (unlike "gods") and neither can the name imply a gender (unlike "god" vs "goddess"). It also can't be written with a small A, unlike the small g in god. There is one Allah and none unlike.

At the same time though, Allah is used by Christian Arabs in the Christian Bible. So to say that "Allah" belongs solely to Muslims is inaccurate. However, note that the Christian Arabic Bible is written in Arabic, and not in Malay or English or any other language. So why would a Malaysian Church insist they want to use the name Allah as God in one of their publications that is not written in Arabic?

In the wider scope of things, the use of the name Allah by other faiths in Malaysia could be seen as poaching, i.e., poaching Muslims by falsely representing a Christian publication as an Islamic one.

I remember reading a comic strip that was written by a Christian in Malay and if unsupervised, a child reading the strip could easily believe the message it was conveying, and of course the message in the strip was: Prophet Jesus (may Allah be pleased with him) was indeed the son of Allah Ta'ala.

To understand why this would happen, one has to be reminded of the poor lines of segregation this country has. Malays are Muslims, Chinese are Buddhists, Indians are Hindus, etc... and a small portion of Chinese and Indians are Christians. This is the general case. So a Malay publication would inevitably be a Muslim publication. This comic strip was written in Malay and it certainly looked intended for the Malay readership, more specifically, a Malay child, who - by default -would be Muslim.

The same would surface if a Muslim saw the word "Allah" in an article / journal / book. They would automatically assume it's an Islamic piece and without vigilance, could be grossly misinformed with respect to its contents.

So now that this particular Church has been granted the right to substitute God or Tuhan with "Allah," Muslims just have to be a little more vigilant when reading different publications. And there is never harm in being a little more vigilant in anything we do.

I just wonder how it will work out though. Allah, like I mentioned is only one, and grammatically in Arabic, it can not be made plural - so how does this work with the concept of trinity? I have never read the Arabic Bible so I would now know. But it would certainly be interesting to find out.

This is by Maria,

This is my personal blog. It is a little self-indulgent, as the name suggests, but as a matter of fact, if you knew how many times by by-line has been omitted from my own original work, you would know why I chose to blog by "by Maria Zain."

It is a reminder to myself of how much hard work it takes to be a writer and homeschooling mother and wife all at once and how I am always in complete awe with other mothers who make it look so easy.

by Maria Zain is therefore, my collection of thoughts of which I have found blog-worthy. I am not here to garner an audience, but if you wish to read me often, do drop by, and even better still, please share your thoughts....

However, if you find this blog a little too snotty, you may want to read...

Writing by Maria,

my writing blog. This is where I share the freelancing experience. If you are a budding freelancer or an aspiring one, you may want to read this blog. My freelancing career has been made possible by other freelancers too - so to honour those others who have chosen this career route, I hope that Writing by Maria is insightful at times, humorous at others, and above all, brutally honest - but definitely possible.

If you are not a writer and never plan to be one, but the word "homeschooling" caught your eye, you may want to read...

Homeschooling by Maria

Homeschooling by Maria is the most challenging but rewarding journey, documented to help me chart my progress and resources that I have used as a homeschooler. There is definitely hope that it can act as a slight support system for other homeschoolers out there.

Please don't read it if the thought of homeschooling makes you nauseous. But if you are a homeschooler or homeschooling is in your parenting pipelines, sure... click on over to that blog and also feel free to share your thoughts.